Is it good to have other brand flash eg.sunpak for canon eos camera? Sunpak flash is far cheaper! Do canon flashes have dedicated power pack with cable to shorten the recycling time?

-- tokamak (sir-tokamak@hongkong.com), April 12, 2001

Answers

It might help to know which Canon EOS camera and which Sunpak flash we're talking about. The newer Canon bodies can use Canon's newer E- TTL flash metering system with Canon's EX series Speedlites. This really is a better flash metering method than the older TTL and A- TTL. Very few non-Canon brand flashes are E-TTL capable. I have been told that the new Sunpak 5000 is, but I would make sure before I bought it. With E-TTL you also get Flash Exposure Lock (FEL), and high speed sync (FP flash). Those are both worth the extra money.

If you are using an older (non E-TTL capable Canon EOS body there still might be good reasons to use a Canon flash though. (Better feature set, better durability, better resale value, etc.)

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 12, 2001.

I forgot to mention the power supply options. Yes, at least the high- end Canon Speedlites offer the option of high speed power supplies. Canon makes a couple of them with both rechargable and non- rechargable batteries in them, but many people prefer the Dynalite Jack Rabbit or the Quantum Turbo. Both of those will also work with the high-end Sunpaks too.

-- Jim Strutz (j.strutz@gci.net), April 12, 2001.